THE CFE TREATY: THE WAY FORWARD FOR CONVENTIONAL ARMS CONTROL IN EUROPE

Abstract

As the successor of the long lasting Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions MBFR negotiations which produced no results during the Cold War, the Conventional Forces in Europe CFE treaty, has become the first conventional weapons arms control treaty ever to be signed in Europe. Does this mean that it can be taken as a precedent, that future regional arms control regimes can be built on its success? To be able to answer this, one must first establish what the CFE's successes are, or if indeed it has had any success at all. After all one cannot forget the signing ceremony in Paris in November 1990, which also heralded the end of the Cold War, making the heavily piled up military stand-off in central Europe superfluous. Perhaps CFE in this context, proves the point that arms control agreements are only reached when they are no longer necessary.